


When You Feel So Tired (But You Can't Sleep)

by beware_of_fangirling



Series: Destiel One-shots [18]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Balthazar is a Shipper, Dean is Bad at Feelings, Dreams and Nightmares, Friends to Lovers, Human Castiel, I Don't Even Know, I swear, M/M, Meddling, Slow Build Castiel/Dean Winchester, it's good, just read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 06:29:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5957080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beware_of_fangirling/pseuds/beware_of_fangirling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drastic times call for drastic measures. Gabriel and Balthazar concoct a plan to make Dean admit his feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Feel So Tired (But You Can't Sleep)

**Author's Note:**

> So I announced this on Wattpad, but not on this site yet. Anyway, I am back and continuing my Destiel One-Shots series in honor of reaching 20k reads on Wattpad, which is freaking AWESOME! Thanks to all my supporters! I hope you guys like this new one-shot and are looking forward to more in the future.
> 
> If this is your first time reading something of mine (and you liked it), I highly suggest you check out the other one-shots in my series!
> 
> Enjoy peoples!

Balthazar was dying, a slow, agonizing death. He was sure of it. Every time blue eyes lingered on a tanned face or calloused hands twitched with the need to hold and protect, the alcoholic angel could feel a bit of his soul crumbling as he lost faith in the willpower of those he called his friends. These two were supposed to be brave saviors of the world? How in the name of the Father was that possible if they couldn't even overcome their own emotional instability and _finally sex each other._

Yes, the sexual tension would surely be the death of him.

Balthazar knew he wasn't the only one who was just waiting for the infamous hunter and the fallen angel to get over the fact that they actually _have_ feelings and just _do something_ about them. You see, he, Sam, and Gabriel had created a running poll long-ago on when either Dean and Castiel would finally admit their feelings for the other. Yet, like clockwork, every time the date one of them had chosen to put money on rolled around and eventually passed, Dean and Castiel would still be the same sexually frustrated and emotionally constipated Dean and Cas they were the previous week.

And the week before that.

And the week before _that_.

You catch the drift?

By the time Balthazar, Gabriel, and Castiel had been living with the Winchester brothers for a year, the two angels were beyond subtleties. Sam had passed that point a while back. What started as casual jabs and "sarcastic" remarks gradually evolved into full-out innuendos and meddling. Not that either Dean or Cas were aware enough to figure out the ultimate game plan every time only one seat just _happened_ to be available for the both of them during movie night or they _coincidentally_ ended up as partners on whatever case they were on.

No, those things were totally unplanned.

Idjits, in the words of another infamous hunter.

"We have to do _something_ ," Balthazar groaned as he flopped down on the couch besides Sam and Gabriel, who were apparently doing "important research". Balthazar had tried to impress on them that there was no case more important than the ongoing trials of getting Dean into Castiel's pants, or vice versa.

Balthazar wasn't really going to be picky at this point.

"This is horrible," he continued as Sam and Gabriel turned their wavering attention to his complaints.

"They're at it again?" Sam asked, referring to the little-enjoyed matches of eye-sex Dean commonly exchanged with his angel.

"It was like they forgot I was in the room. I wouldn't be surprised if they were still at it. I mean really, it's just pitiful at this point. This is more tormenting to watch than the _Titanic_ , and you both know how I feel about that song." Balthazar suppressed a shudder and ran his hands over his forehead. When he opened his eyes again, Gabriel and Sam were sending him sympathetic looks, sharing in his pain.

"What can we do?" Sam asked with a shrug of his gigantor shoulders. "They're never going to admit that they have feelings for each other, that would be the mature thing to do."

"Then we push them together, we _make_ them admit it!" Balthazar protested.

Sam's look turned suspicious. "You're going to meddle," he stated matter-of-factually.

"I am going to meddle."

The younger Winchester sighed and looked to Gabriel, who had been suspiciously quiet up to this point.

The archangel gave Sam an offended look. "Don't look at me," he said with his hands raised. "You know that if I help this will all go downhill at a record-setting rate."

"Well, with or without the help of you two supposed friends, I am going to get those two boys married if I have to drag them to the altar and officiate myself." Balthazar straightened his jacket, his haughty tone still in tact. "I'm licensed in all 49 states."

Sam gave him a confused bitchface. "There are 50 states."

"I don't count Canada." Before the Winchester, who was now more than just confused, could say anything to dispute Balthazar's geography skills,  the blonde and possibly slightly inhibited angel rambled on, "In any case, I am going to do something. I can't sit on my arse much longer while Dean and Cas could very well be spending their time making beautiful babies, rather than _this_ , whatever this was.

Sam stood and gathered his things. "I want to see the two of them happy more than anyone, but I'm not going to interfere in Dean's love life again. I secretly asked Fiona Rossum to the school dance for him in third grade and all my trouble got me was a wedge and shampoo paranoia. If you meddle, leave me out of it on all accounts." He started to walk out of the room with his laptop and a couple heavy books, calling over his shoulder, "Don't do anything stupid!"

Gabriel and Balthazar watched as Sam left the room. When he was out of eye-sight, Gabriel turned to his younger brother. "What exactly are you going to do?"

Balthazar shrugged. "Something stupid." He met Gabriel's eye with a mischievous look. "And I'm going to need your help."

~|D|O|S|~

Balthazar was creeping Dean out. In truth, he was always creeping Dean out, but that day there was something in the angel's eyes that unnerved Dean. It was the mischievous glint in the long looks he gave Dean from across the room, the smug lilt of his voice as he made a quip in regards to Dean's _totally platonic_ relationship with Castiel, the calculating glances he shared with Gabriel.

Dean did not even want to _imagine_ what the two of them could be planning together, but he knew enough to make sure that they had a sustainable water supply in case the power went out for an extended period of time.

Dean was more than happy to go to sleep that night, if only for the fact that Balthazar couldn't creep him out then without giving Dean probable cause to stab him. Their small little rundown team of misfits managed to turn in early that night, finishing the research for their case and getting to bed at promptly three in the morning. It was the earliest Dean had gotten to sleep in a long time.

Dean said good-night to Cas outside of their adjacent rooms, rubbing a hand awkwardly across the back of his _totally not blushing_ neck and slapping Cas lightly on the shoulder as they said good-night and parted ways.

When Cas had first come to live with Dean and Sam in the bunker, he was still healing after the fall. It was a long and tedious road to recovery, and each night the shadows and terrors Cas managed to block from his mind when the sun was up crept closer and closer to his sleeping form until they gripped him tightly enough to draw screams from his throat and send Dean running in from the next room over. It was on these nights that the two of them found it difficult to separate after the nightmare had been proven to be just that. They would often sit around together in companionable silence afterwards, or- on the really bad nights- Dean would hold Cas gently against his broad chest as the once-angel tried desperately to calm his heart and forget the feeling of falling, the sight of his brothers and sister plummeting to the Earth besides him, the crash of his newly-mortal body against the hard ground in a landing jarring enough that it should have snapped his spine clean in half. It didn't.

Some nights he wished it did.

But he would never tell Dean that. The one time he mentioned it, just a small hint under his breath that he wished the fall had killed him, that dying would have been better than whatever kind of life he was living now, the hunter's breath had caught in his throat. He looked at the angel with a pained gaze, like Castiel had just killed his puppy. The intense, _raw_ pain in his eyes was quickly covered by anger as he ranted and screamed at Cas to not ever say that again, to not ever think something like that again. Afterwards, Dean had stormed into his room and did not come out for the rest of the evening.

But when Castiel let out a hoarse scream in the middle of the night, Dean was still there to raise him from the nightmares.

So they bid each other farewell that night and shuffled reluctantly off to their own rooms. Dean couldn't explain the flutter in his heart that came with the fond look the angel gave him- because he would always be an angel to Dean. He couldn't explain the tightness in his throat as it was crowded by words he could never push out, words such as "you", "I", and "love", though perhaps not in that exact order. 

An intense sleepiness coated Dean's mind at the first sight of his bed, and he collapsed face-first onto the mattress still fully clothed. This case was draining him. It only took a couple seconds and the nearly subconscious assurance that a weapon of some sort was still under his pillow and in easy reach before he fell into a deep sleep.

~|D|O|S|~

Dean was woken up a few hours later, and at first he was unsure why. A quick mental body scan assured him that each of him limbs was  in tact and he did not appear to be dying at that particular moment. Dean stayed completely still, not even opening his eyes, the tip of his trigger finger brushing the handle of his gun ever so slightly. The only sound of breathing in the room seemed to be his own. The only thing out of place was a discreet heat in the room, a small change of temperature but noticeable to the tense hunter.

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

One small drop on Dean's back.

He grasped his gun and whirled around at the same moment, safety off and aimed at the ceiling.

_No._  Dean wasn't sure if it was a mental plea or an anguished scream but it was deafening to his own ears.

Wide and terrified blue eyes stared down at him, a blue that Dean would recognize anywhere. They were the last thing Dean saw before the room erupted into flames.

~|D|O|S|~

A loud scream drew Castiel out of his sleep, but for once it was not coming from his own lungs. The agonized cry drifted through the wall separating his room from Deans. Without a second thought, he was rushing out of his bed and into the hunter's room before the sheets had even settled on his bed.

Dean was still screaming when Castiel reached his room, the gun in his hand being brandished around as he thrashed in the throes of a nightmare. His face was tight with pain and Castiel could almost see tears coming down his face from where he stood in the doorway.

Wary of the cocked gun in Dean's hand, Castiel approached the bed. He gripped Dean's gun hand in his own, which caused the hunter to fight against him. The former angel held fast, keeping the gun pointed away from both of them as he tried to calm Dean down, calling his name gently. Another, larger hand fell into place beside his on Dean's wrist. Castiel looked over his shoulder at Sam who nodded at him as if to say that he would control the weapon.

Castiel let go of Dean's hand, reaching for his face instead. He cupped the hunter's head in his own carefully, kneeling on the bed.

"Dean, Dean, listen to me, you're okay. Everything is okay," he whispered calmly, but the hunter didn't seem to hear him. Castiel leaned down, pressing his forehead gently but firmly against Dean's own. The violent movements didn't stop, but they did calm down a bit. Instinctively, Castiel said, "I'm okay, Dean."

Tanned eyelids snapped open and green eyes stared into Castiel's own blue orbs. Dean's body froze, entirely still but for the harsh movement of his chest against Castiel's own as he caught his breath. Their eyes did not move from each other, not even when Sam dropped Dean's wrist and backed out of the room, feeling like he was intruding on a private moment. Castiel hadn't even noticed that his thumbs were stroking Dean's cheeks lightly until one rough calloused hand covered his own and the other went to his back.

"Cas." Dean's voice was wrecked, barely more than a whisper, but Castiel could hear so much emotion in that single syllable. Trepidation, like he wasn't sure this was real. Fear, like he didn't know what to do if it wasn't. Desperation, like he was aching for it to be. But more than any of those things was an overwhelming, all-consuming _love._  Powerful love.

"I'm okay," Cas repeated, and something in his eyes made Dean believe him. Relief swept over the hunter's face and his body collapsed around Castiel's pulling the smaller man into his black-hole heart. Castiel went willingly.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," Dean whispered over and over into Castiel's neck, like he couldn't stop himself if he wanted to. Castiel buried his face into the hunter's own neck, smiling through the tears that had begun to drip down his cheeks. 

"I love you too."

~|D|O|S|~

As Balthazar and Gabriel listened to this hushed exchange through the bedroom door, they couldn't help but feel somewhat bad that they had put Dean through a nightmare like that, but it looked like it would all be for the better. They had each other now, so it was worth it.

Same approached them from behind with a fresh glass of water. "Thought I told you two not to do anything stupid."

"It wasn't stupid, it was brilliant," Balthazar said haughtily. "Maybe just a tid-bit cruel, but absolutely brilliant."

Sam rolled his eyes and took a sip of water. Gabriel, who had been abnormally quiet, followed the movement with his eyes. Neither details escaped Balthazar's notice. "I'm going to go back to bed," the Winchester said with a lingering pat on the shorter angel's arm. 

"'Night," Gabriel replied before turning to his brother. "I oughta get going too. Good work tonight, though." He walked off in the opposite direction as Sam, leaving Balthazar in the middle of the hallway with his head whipping back and forth between the giant and the short stack of pancakes. 

"Oh, bloody hell."

**Author's Note:**

> Next Up: When Castiel starts to lose faith in humanity, Dean takes it into his own hands to show him the parts of the world still left to love.


End file.
